Jan. 11, 2012 at 12:41am with 6 notes
our american cousinlord dundrearyabraham lincoln
I was doing a little bit of research about Broadway and stumbled into a story about the play Our American Cousin, a 19th century farce about an American who goes to claim a family estate in England. One of the principal characters in the play was the bumbling Lord Dundreary, played by Edward Sothern, above. Apparently Sothern didn’t want the role initially, but ended up turning it into a hit. The play is best known as the work of theater that Abraham Lincoln was watching when he was shot. Sothern wasn’t on stage as Dundreary that evening. (It was an actor named E.A. Emerson instead.) But I have to wonder if this goofy character was the last thing Lincoln registered before he died.

I was doing a little bit of research about Broadway and stumbled into a story about the play Our American Cousin, a 19th century farce about an American who goes to claim a family estate in England. One of the principal characters in the play was the bumbling Lord Dundreary, played by Edward Sothern, above. Apparently Sothern didn’t want the role initially, but ended up turning it into a hit.

The play is best known as the work of theater that Abraham Lincoln was watching when he was shot. Sothern wasn’t on stage as Dundreary that evening. (It was an actor named E.A. Emerson instead.) But I have to wonder if this goofy character was the last thing Lincoln registered before he died.